The Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Oregon is a quarterback many believe to be the best equipped to run Eagles coach Chip Kelly's fastbreak spread offense at a Super Bowl level. He's expected to be picked first overall by the Tampa Bay Bucs or second by the Tennessee Titans and certainly will not still be available to the Eagles by the time their first pick rolls around at No. 20.

But because Kelly, who recruited Mariota to Oregon and coached him before taking over the Eagles in 2013, now has complete personnel control for the first time, the thought is that he has been working for months to engineer a trade or series of trades that will reunite him with the man he calls "the best quarterback in the draft."

The same will go for this weekend's NFL Draft, which begins tonight (8 p.m.) and ends...

Now that coach Chip Kelly is finally getting to build the Philadelphia Eagles 100 percent his way, all the shocking personnel moves he made in the offseason shouldn't really have come as that much of a surprise.

The same will go for this weekend's NFL Draft, which begins tonight (8 p.m.) and ends...

(Nick Fierro)

For that to happen, the Bucs almost certainly would have to disagree and select Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston with the first pick.

Once that happens, numerous trade scenarios enabling the Eagles to move up to whatever position it might take to select Mariota have been suggested. All involve multiple players as well as draft picks, and obviously will cost the Eagles quite a bit, considering how low their starting position is.

Kelly has gone on record repeatedly as saying he wouldn't "mortgage the future" for a player like Mariota. However, his only example of something he wouldn't do would be to trade away every pick in a draft just for one pick, the way New Orleans did in 1999 in order to draft running back Ricky Williams.

"I think that stuff is crazy," Kelly said. "You guys [in the media] have been going with that stuff all along. I think Marcus is the best quarterback in the draft. We will never mortgage our future to go all the way up to get somebody like that because we have too many other holes that we are going to take care of."

On the other hand, what if the Eagles can land him by giving up just their first pick this year and next, a few players, including current No. 1 quarterback Sam Bradford, and perhaps a mid-rounder next year?

Kelly would not stay on the subject long enough to address specific proposals, but many scenarios have the Eagles being able to extract Cleveland's first-round pick (No. 19) this year for Bradford and then turning around and trading that, their No. 20, next year's No. 1 and a couple of young but proven and ascending defensive players to the Titans for their pick at No. 2. Defensive end Fletcher Cox and inside linebacker Mychal Kendricks have been the names most mentioned.

Vice president of player personnel Ed Marynowitz last week left the door open for a blockbuster but also hinted to the fans that not getting their hopes up would be the most prudent approach.

"I'd rather have more picks than less picks," he said. "I think Chip shares the same philosophy. That doesn't preclude us from moving up and doing something. I think you never say never. But philosophically, we have eight picks and we'd like to pick eight players or more, not less."

How far are the Eagles willing to go?

"I think there is an internal number on that that we're not going to share outside the building, but we know what mortgaging the future is internally," Marynowitz said.

Any trade the team would make to land a top-flight quarterback involves a good deal of risk. The Eagles are no doubt still weighing everything associated with it as they head into Thursday night's first round.

Of course, even if Tennessee or one of the other teams with high picks are not open initially to trading, they could draft Mariota themselves and then take their time to find the best offer and deal him later in the draft or after it's over entirely.

So no matter what happens tonight, don't count the Eagles out of the Mariota Sweepstakes until there's some proof that he has landed with a team that intends to keep him.